mr. denver oversees the recruitment and training of the army's contacting work force. he was previously director of contracting for the u.s. army corps of engineers. j alexander their has been the assistant to the administrator and director of the office of afghanistan and pakistan affairs for the u.s. agency for international development since june 2010. prior to joining usaid, he was director of afghanistan and pakistan at the u.s. institute of peace. once again, is his custom of the committee, if you would stand so i can administer the oath. do you swear that the testimony you will get before the subcommittee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god? thank you all for being here. we begin with mr. solis. >> good morning. madame chair, ranking member portman, appreciate the opportunity to be here to discuss dod contract oversight and afghanistan and the vetting of non-u.s. vendors. collectively,dod and state have offered billions of dollars for contractor-provided services and goods in afghanistan. given the magnitude of these obl

mr. higgins. i rise in support of the amendment to eliminate a provision in this bill that would harm las vegas, phoenix, denver, miami, baltimore, detroit and a dozen more cities around the country. this bill before us would eliminate any funding for the urban area security initiative for all but the top 10 highest risk urban areas, leaving over 50 u.s. cities off the list, including my own city of las vegas, one of the greatest tourist destiny -- destinations in the world, with over 37 million visitors a year. for almost a decade uasi program has worked to help cities prevent acts of terrorism. not too long ago, over 60 u.s. cities received funding to help them purchase equipment, develop recovery plans and implement counterterrorism strategies. in my home city of las vegas, for example, we've create creathed the southern nevada counterterrorism center where 18 state, local and federal agencies all work together to detect and prevent terrorist and other homeland security-related events. this kind of fusion centers based on the recommendations of the 9/11 commission to help law enforcement agencies communicate

denver international airport's entire outdoor baggage handling area. >> the outdoor baggage handling area is in the shape of a phallis. >> and that is exactly what he does in his new video. mrhallis or plot if i into a whole new level. not just the phallis shaped terminal that concerns him but also surrounding street names. >> what do you suppose this street name is that runs right down the center? you guessed it. that's pena boulevard [ laughter ] >> sorry. all right. actually i did not guess that. i was hoping for you rita ra boulevard. pena is named for fedrico pena, the former mayor of denver. but anyway, that's just one street. not like there's others. >> i guess you could call this time pubic hair area. what do you suppose the name of this street is right here? this is the hairy b. combes parkway. >> harry b. combes was an aviator and a writer. who cares? it doesn't matter. >> this street right here? this is shady grove street. i guess that's because that's where the sun don't shine. >> the sun don't -- i think he's getting his anatomical references confused now. >> if they ever cut the flow of traffic on this little screen, leading down to pena boulevard, i bet they

denver to the seattle office. again, these are things that are not going to produce jobs in our country. so it seems to me, mr. president, that rather than spending time on bills like this e.d.a. bill, which won't actually create jobs, we should actually be focusing on the big cliff we're heading for and begin preparing for the debt ceiling debate. this is where we can insist on a very large down payment of reduced spending, reform entitlements and put a straitjacket on future congressional budgets, all of which will give businesses and markets greater certainty about our fiscal future. as a start, we should have a third debate and a vote on a constitutional balanced budget amendment which would get us on the right path to a sound fiscal future. in the long run, the only way for our economy to create jobs is for the government to spend, borrow, and tax less. thus, freeing america's enterprises to do what they do best. mr. president, i suggest that we not wait any longer. it's time to begin this debate. let's have a vote on the constitutional amendment to find ways to reduce spending and ensure that we don't in